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Some Random Thoughts

Just some stuff.....most of it generated from this past "series."

*Lot of armchair qb's around here lately. When BP said what he said, everyone loved it because the series hadn't started. After the sweep, there's been this tide of negativity directed his way for opening his mouth. I don't think he was wrong for running his mouth a bit...most times, teams will rally around stuff like that but the Reds just didn't. My only beef with BP is that he played like crap the entire series after running his mouth. If you're going to say stuff like he said, you have to back it up....at least a little. Still, other than the brawl, I firmly believe this series would have turned out the way it did, regardless if BP called the Cards "b*****s" in front of McCoy or recited King Lear. That didn't affect the series, but it did escalate the rivalry.

*The Cards, from the mgmt down to Aaron Miles, appeared to take this series a lot more seriously than the Reds. LaRussa organized things so we would see his best 3 pitchers and we did nothing of the sort. The Cards were the beneficiary of a LOT of seeing-eye singles - moreso than I have ever personally witnessed - but they made very few mistakes, pitched lights-out, and they DID have some hard hit balls.....two grand-slams, if I remember correctly. I do not think the Cards are the better team, but we just seem to match up with them poorly and we seemed to prepare for this series very poorly - from mgmt down to Miguel Cairo.

*I have been doing my best not to run Dusty down this season...especially because we are winning, despite many questionable moves by the Dust-man. But I can't hold my tongue on this one. Jonny Gomes has been the worst player on the team for 2 months. He's not hitting anything - he swings at pitches that aren't even in the Hamilton County zip code. He hasn't driven in a run since Menudo was cool. He might be the worst defensive LF I have ever seen. An average college baseball LF could have easily fielded that foul ball from Rasmus yesterday - he got there, it's just that JG cannot run and field at the same time. 2 pitches later, Bronson hangs one and it's 4-0 Cards and the game is over. I told all my Reds friends after that Monday debacle that Teh Dust would continue to run him out there. They all said I was crazy. At some point we need to stop blaming Gomes for his deficiencies and blame the guy who keeps putting him out there to commit acts of epic fail.

*Speaking of epic fail, Jim Edmonds' Reds debut. Hitless, sub-par defense and an egregious baserunning error that may have cost us game #2. I can only hope that this shows Teh Dust that Jimmy is not to be used as an every day player or even a meaningful part of a platoon. He is a vet who should provide some leadership in the clubhouse, a useful LH PH bat and the occasional spot start to spell our good players. I remain fearful that he will be used incorrectly.

*I think we all know Chapman is coming up at some point this season. My question is, if you, gentle reader, accept this premise as fact, for what are we waiting??? He'd be an immediate upgrade to anyone we have out in our pen. He would have been VERY useful in the Cards series. Our pen has performed really well over the past few weeks, causing Reds fans to think it is a lot better than it actually may be. I don't see it as a weakness, by any means, but "The Nasty Boys" they ain't.

*Speaking of Chapman, even if he is brought up this year and placed in the pen, I still want him to be groomed as a starter next season. He looks every part of that TOR guy this team lacks. EV and JC are fine pitchers, but they're #2/3 starters. Arroyo is also a mid-rotation guy. I will be shocked if Harang is here next year. I am not sure what the hell Bailey is (more on him next). Chapman has TOR stuff and could potentially be a superstar. I can't see that a team like CIN would spend those millions on a guy they project in MR or potentially a closer when that albatross known as CoCo is removed from our collective necks.

*Homer Bailey. Perhaps one of the most maligned Reds right now. Putting up great numbers in Louisville but it seems no one wants any part of him in Cincinnati. There's no doubt his ML performance has not lived up to the hype thus far, but the fact is, he is still very young and there is no doubting his talent. Not all stud pitchers "get it" right away. Sometimes it takes 2-3 years on the ML level. If I'm not mistaken, it took Zach Greinke a little while. There's several more examples, but this post it long enough already. I want to see Homer take Leake's spot in the rotation and have mgmt give him a vote of confidence by stating the spot is his. This opinion may be mine alone, but I think he's ready to take the next step towards being a very, very good ML pitcher.

*Gotta get Josh Johnson on Friday. The offense was stagnant against STL and we face our 4th straight stud starter in JJ, but we can't afford to lose 4 straight games at home, especially when we are headed due west soon.....and any experienced Reds fan knows what generally happens when we venture out towards the left coast.

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